Colorado Springs Open Source Software Group

Gary Hessler has just created an Open Source Software Group for the Colorado Springs area. I have never met Gary or know much about the group but have signed up as a member out of curiosity. If you live in the area, you might want to check this out as well. Here are the details of the first meeting:

• Date: Thursday, Feb 28, 2008.
• Time: 7:00 PM.
• Location: East Library Community Room at 5550 North Union Blvd.
• Meeting Topic: A general discussion of existing open source software in order to become more aware of what exists today.

See you there.

Tags: Colorado Springs Open Source Software Group

Free NewsGator Feed Readers

NewsGator, the company responsible for FeedDemon (Windows) and NetNewsWire (MacOS), has just announced that they will be providing FeedDemon and NetNewsWire for FREE! You have no excuse to make use of syndicated feeds now (not to mention getting to use some of the best software in the industry). I might even switch back to NetNewsWire instead of using Vienna.

For further news and information, check out Nick Bradbury’s post.

The Current Decline of High Fidelity Sound

I recently read a Rolling Stone article about The Death of High Fidelity by Robert Levine. In the article he talks about how we are losing appreciation for high fidelity sound due to the popularity of MP3s. There is also mention of how one should be cautious of buying recently remastered music as some of the audio engineers are tweaking the sound so that it sounds louder and has more punch when compressed in MP3 format. The article is worth reading.

I admit that I have a lot of my music compressed to MP3 due to convenience of portability but have always been a purist at heart. I still enjoy being able to listen to the uncompressed version on high fidelity equipment. Even better if you are listening to SACD and/or DVD-Audio quality sound.

I hope that the compression trend will change in years to come as the price of storage technology goes down so that home media servers as well as portable devices will be able to store more uncompressed audio. I would rather see the appreciation of high fidelity sound reclaimed rather than lost.

iDVD Themes

The following web sites sell themes for iDVD in addition to what you get with the default install:

• iDVD Themes
• iDVD Themetastic
• iDVD Theme PAK

Most support a range of iDVD versions. However, if you want to create your own iDVD theme or modify an existing theme, the place to look is here:

Macintosh HD/Library/Application Support/iDVD/Themes

Each theme is a package, so you’ll need to right-click on a theme and select “Show Package Contents” from the popup menu in order to see the file and directory structure.

Tags: iDVD

Online File Storage

The following services might be of interest in case you are looking for an alternative to host and share files (rather than use a web host like GoDaddy):

• Box - Probably the easiest and best designed of the services listed here. You can upload files via your web browser or use e-mail. Check out Robert Scoble’s interview with Aaron Levie as he demos some of Box’s features.
• MediaFire - A free service that allows decent customization and organization of files. Has a 100MB restriction on files and uses your web browser to manage files. If you need a free, quick and dirty solution this is the place to go.
• Strongspace - Unlike the rest listed here, this service focuses on keeping your files secure (including the uploading and downloading of files). Files can be managed via your web browser or by using secure FTP clients. This service has no free account plans.
• DropSend - Uses e-mail as the primary means of storing files. Another quick and dirty solution but not as flexible as MediaFire.

Check out these 20 free online storage solutions as well.

Fess Parker Chardonnay 2005

Smooth and flavorful, without being overly buttery. Very balanced for the price.

Tags: Wine